Whenever you cook, the most important thing to remember is to have fun! Don’t let things stress you out. Feeding your folks, family, and/or friends is about building memories…so make those memories happy ones by letting the little things go. Instead of beating yourself up if you didn’t follow a recipe 100%, go with your instincts, play with flavors, and enjoy the process! Recipes should help guide us to be our own limitless creative powers, instead of confining us to someone else’s ideal. Many great foods were created when someone strayed from a recipe!
One of the reasons I love Paula Deen is that she has SO much fun when she cooks. She laughs, jokes, teases, and creates an energetic atmosphere in the kitchen, making it hard to flip the channel! Her passion for cooking is only rivaled by her love for the people in her life. She exudes a carefree attitude, reminding us to enjoy cooking and to build food related memories with every meal. Her belief that food breeds loving memories is evident with the stories connected to almost all of her recipes. Even her utensils/cookware have memories attached to them! Home cooks really need to adopt her happy attitude when cooking…and it’s something I strive for all the time.
I found this website a while ago that always makes me laugh (I put it on my Facebook Page when I first stumbled upon it) – it’s called PaulaDeenRidingThings.com. The website is literally just Photoshopped pictures of Paula Deen perched atop anything you can think of. Not sure if it was designed to mock or satirically praise her for her fun loving attitude….but I love it haha. To me, pauladeenridingthings.com reminds us that life is about having fun. Cooking is meant to be fun, silly, and make us laugh. Paula Deen is a huge personality, but her passionate antics just show us what cooking is supposed to be about – love, fun, and memories. So we should all add a little wackiness to our lives, remember to smile, and make a memory out of everything we do!
Have fun when cooking this holiday weekend! Happy 4th of July!
Yours truly,
Stephen